Aiding the Political Process: Part 2 – Canadian Federal Election

As everyone in Canada is aware, the federal election was called early. Though most people complained, this was a huge benefit to an otherwise unemployed but experienced election worker. My phone rang the morning after the election call, August 3, and I started work two days later.

First we helped to unpack supplies – lots of supplies – until furniture arrived and the phones and computers were hooked up. This time the office computers had their own server from Elections Canada, so the assembly was done by computer specialists.

 

Then I filled in on the Reception Desk while other office staff and election workers were being hired. Few people knew that the office was open yet at  this point, and the phone system was not fully operational, so the calls were few!

After a couple weeks, I transferred to a Revisions Clerk position. There we worked two and three clerks per shift, answering phone calls to help people know where to vote and to make corrections to the voter’s list. The closer the big date came the busier we were. If one cannot read a county map when one begins that job, one will learn and be an expert at it by the time one is finished! The change of boundary lines in our constituency was a challenge, with many wrong land locations for rural addresses. But in some quirky way it was fun!

On election day, October 19, I worked as Deputy Returning Officer at a polling station. There I handed out ballots to voters and gave instructions to help them mark the ballot correctly so it would count. At the end of the evening, the Poll Clerk and I counted the ballots for our poll and sorted all our supplies for return to the Returning Office. It was a long, busy day but interesting to meet people and see the Canadian electoral process work.

After the big day, a group of five or six Revisions Clerks and our supervisor worked for another five days to enter corrections and additions that were made to the voter’s list on election day.

With three month’s work behind me, I was then ready to hook up the RV and take a break!